USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume II > Part 31
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arguments, on the basis of clearly marshaled and unquestionable facts." The result is known. He was re-elected, to place more firmly upon its basis the new experiment in city government.
All honor, then, to the " Brooklyn Idea " in city government. It has spread the fame of the city over the world, for Bryce, in his " American Commonwealth," has given full emphasis to its excel- lence and utility. Other students of civil government turn to it with gratification, and speak of it with praise. Prof. John Fiske, in his " Civil Government in the United States," says of it: " This Brook- lyn system has great merits. It insures unity of administration, it encourages promptness and economy, it locates and defines respon- sibility, and it is so simple that everybody can understand it. The people having but few officers to elect, are more likely to know some- thing about them. Especially, since everybody understands that the success of the government depends upon the character of the Mayor. extraordinary pains are taken to secure good Mayors, and the in- creased interest in city politics is shown by the fact that in Brooklyn more people vote for Mayor than for Governor or for President. . . To vote for candidates whom one has never heard of is not to insure popular control, but to endanger it. It is much better to vote for one man whose reputation we know, and then to hold him strictly re- sponsible for the appointments he makes. The Brooklyn system seems to be a step toward lifting city government out of the mire of party politics."
So satisfactory has been the working of the " Brooklyn Idea " that other cities have adopted it with modifications. This has been done with particular enthusiasm in Philadelphia. The principle also ran through the charter under which Mayor Strong began his administra- tion in 1894, and it has very considerably influenced the charter of the Greater New York, especially in the matter of the appointing power of the Mayor.
CHAPTER XII.
BRIDGING THE EAST RIVER.
HE idea of bridging the East River as it has been done, ap- peared to be an undertaking so stupendous, and in its ac- complished results presents a structure so imposing, that we can hardly realize to ourselves that other generations with resources so much more limited than our own, could ever have contemplated the design. Yet far back in the history of Brooklyn we find traces of a purpose and consideration of an attempt which. as we think, would have been utterly impossible then. The earliest is found in an old scrapbook prepared by General Jeremiah Johnson, composed of newspaper extraets, interlarded with manuscript notes in his own handwriting, and bearing a date not later than 1800. One of these items or notes reads as follows: " It has been suggested that a bridge should be constructed from this village across the East River to New York. This idea has been treated as chimerical, from the magnitude of the design; but whosoever takes it into their serious con- sideration will find more weight in the practicability of the scheme than at first view is imagined. It has been observed that every objection to the building of this bridge could be refuted, and that it only wanted a combination of opinion to favor the attempt. A plan has already been laid down on paper, and a gentleman of acknowledged abilities and good sense has observed that he would engage to erect it in two years' time." No doubt it was necessary to indorse with especial stress the " good sense " of a man engaging to do such a thing in 1800. We read, again, of a Mr. Thomas Pope. architect and landscape gardener, who in 1811 published a volume on bridges, in which the feasibility of bridging the East River was discussed with an easy confidence. Possibly the subsidiary occupa- tion would have enabled this genius to add to the Eighth Wonder of the World some of the features of one of the other seven, and repro- duce for New York and Brooklyn the " hanging gardens of Baby- lon." As the decades of the century advanced and progress in me- chanical appliances and the uses of steam went with it, the scheme would naturally appear less chimerical. We find, in 1836, that General Joseph G. Swift has an idea in his mind of connecting New York and Brooklyn. We remember him as the military engineer who revived the old line of intrenchments which the Revolutionary
THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
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heroes had run from the Wallabout to Gowanus. Throwing np banks or dykes was therefore quite in his line, but it is rather startling to learn of his suggestion to construct a dyke across the East River. upon which a fine boulevard should be laid out! Even the Dutch would think twice before throwing a dyke across such a current as tears by here. We have already cited the historian Prime, who wrote about 1845, and how merry he makes himself over the project of a bridge. " Near the commencement of the present century," he wrote. " the erection of a bridge between New York and Brooklyn, of a single arch, so lofty as to form no obstruction to navigation, and so strong as to bid defiance to the winds of heaven, had become the great topic of conversation. But now the idea of a bridge is as rare a conception as a fifth wheel to a coach, and is about as desirable." Then glorifying the convenient and abundant ferry service, he goes on to say : " At any hour of the day or night you can pass from one city to the other with equal safety and greater rapidity than you could walk the same distance on terra firma. . Under these
circumstances who would think of crossing on a bridge, if one stood in his way?" We perceive that he congratulates his own generation in 1845 on having permanently set aside so preposterous a notion as that of bridging the East River. But, alas! four years later the hal- lucination had broken out again. Like Banquo's ghost, it would not down. In an issue of the New York Tribune one fine day in 1849, we find the following revelation of the prevalent hiacy, as Dr. Prime must have regarded it: "The great project of municipal improve- ment now occupying public attention in this city and Brooklyn is the building of a splendid bridge connecting the two shores of the East River, and thus making New York and Brooklyn emphatically one. The bridge is the great event of the day. New York and Brooklyn must be united, and there is no other means of doing it The thing will certainly be achieved one of these days, and the sooner the better."
Thus broached and considered, and flouted and laid aside and tak- en up again. the great pressing necessity and desirability of the scheme kept on bringing men nearer and nearer to its accomplish- ment. Such enterprises must eventually get themselves acted on by the Legislature as a first step toward practical execution. Before the war was over, in February, 1864, writers tell us that a bill was introduced at Albany for the appointing of a commission to inquire into the feasibility and expediency of building a bridge across the East River, and authorizing the expenditure of $5,000 for that pur- pose. A year later a bill was bronght forward to incorporate the East River Bridge Company. All this seems to have been rather far ahead of any really serious movement in the matter, such as has cast lasting honor and remembrance upon certain names that became iden- tified with bridge history shortly after. One of the first of these was
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Colonel Julius W. Adams, who is said to have given the subject much study from 1855 on. He was a resident of Brooklyn and a celebrated civil engineer. The war interrupted his studies, but, in 1865, he re- turned to the matter so near his heart, and he soon matured a plan. This involved two elliptic tubes, supported by ribs of steel, and pro- viding three platforms for travelers. He succeeded in interesting Mr. William C. Kingsley, a contractor, in the project, and the enthusiasm aroused in this individual proved to be a potent factor in the final achievement. Another account, however, somewhat reverses the above order, and makes Mr. Kingsley the one to aronse his friend, the civil engineer, who is not mentioned, but presumably is Colonel Ad- ams. At any rate, we can now trace the infinence and push of more than one eminent and capable individual. Next to Kingsley, we come npon the name of Henry C. Murphy, whom we so constantly encounter in Brooklyn affairs of every sort. An Eagle supplement contains an interesting account of the winning over of Mr. Murphy to the enterprise in which he always took a leading part, being for many years President of the Bridge Commission. It is too good to be omitted here. One afternoon in 1866, Mr. Kingsley called on Justice MeChe, who tells the story, asking him to go along to Bay Ridge to call on the Senator in regard to the bridge scheme. Mr. Murphy had a country seat there called " Owl's Head," and a tablet in the library records the historie visit. " After a while," are Judge MeQue's words. " Mr. Kingsley brought up the subject of the bridge. Mr. Murphy listened to him with much attention. He listened as a man under a spell. Then, as if resenting the dominion of another, Mr. Murphy began to interrogate and criticise and doubt. To everything that Mr. Murphy advanced Mr. Kingsley gave the most respectful consideration. No sooner would Mr. Murphy stop, however, than Mr. Kingsley would meet him with arguments, illustrations, and rejoind- ers, which were persistent, comprehensive, and unanswerable. The result was that Mr. Murphy avowed himself a convert to the feasibil- ity of the proposition. He agreed to draw the enabling bill. It was far toward morning when we left Mr. Murphy's house, but, on that night, and in that talk, the bridge, as a fact, was born."
The bill drawn up by Senator Murphy was laid before the Legisla- ture at its next session, in 1867, and was passed in April. It was on the basis of Colonel Adams's plan, and the financial provisions called for the formation of a private corporation with the two cities the largest contributors to the capital stock, New York taking one- third and Brooklyn two-thirds. In 1868 the Common Council re- solved to subscribe three millions of dollars, on condition that two millions should be subscribed by others, ten per cent. of which was to be paid in, and also stipnlating that the city should have a rep- resentation in the Board of Directors. In December, 1868, the New York Common Conneil agreed to subscribe a million and a half dol-
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lars, providing that the Mayor, Comptroller, and President of the Board of Aldermen should be ex officio members of the company. The remaining five hundred thousand dollars were subscribed by indi- viduals. A look along this original list of shareholders is interesting. New York is credited with fifteen thousand shares and Brooklyn with thirty thousand. The contracting firm of Kingsley & Keene are down for sixteen hundred. Mr. Murphy risked the cost of one hundred shares in the untried enterprise, and Mayor Kalbfleisch two Inindred. We are not surprised to see the name of " first citizen " J. S. T. Stran- ahan where any good was to be done to Brooklyn. Not so pleas- ant a feature, and one, we would think, auguring disaster to it, was the great number of shares taken by members of the Tweed ring. Tweed himself is down for five hundred and sixty, and Peter B. Sweeney for the same amount. They saw a good investment here for their stolen money, and the wonder is they did not maneuver so as to plunder the people by means of this enterprise, yet no doubt they were at the bottom of the difficulties thrown in the way of the project by the politicians, who wished to get the work under their control, or else kill it altogether. Aside from the sanetion of the State Legis- lature, there was needed action on the part of the Federal Govern- ment, for the East River was an arm of the sea, and a navigable water of the United States. In the autumn of 1868 a bill, therefore, was introduced in Congress granting the desired permission. Com- missioners were appointed to inquire thoroughly into the plans and provisions of the proposed structure, who reported favorably there- on, only stipulating that at the center the span should be 135, instead of 130 feet above high water. The act was then passed, one requirement of it being that the bridge be completed on or before June 1, 1870! A later amendment graciously extended the time to June 1, 1874. We now know it took nine years longer to realize this happy consummation.
Meantime the chief engineer had been selected, and some of the work had begun. John A. Roebling, the constructor of the Niagara Suspension Bridge, had been appointed in May, 1867, and the plans which he submitted in September called for a structure similar to that, but on a vastly larger scale. The first borings and soundings were made in 1867, which revealed that there was a foundation of gneiss rock ninety-six feet below high-water mark. The sites for the two towers were located, and, on August 26, 1869, the surveys for these and the approaches were finished. Even then a great calamity had already come upon the enterprise. On July 22, 1869, while busy superintending the work of locating the Brooklyn tower, Chief Engi- neer Roebling met with a fatal accident. As he was standing on a pier adjoining the nearest slip of the Fulton Ferry, a boat coming in crashed against the side, and so disturbed the timbers of the pier that Mr. Roebling's foot was crushed between them. Lockjaw set in,
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and sixteen days later he was dead. Fortunately his son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, was fully capable of carrying on the work of his father, hav- ing been with him in his previous undertak- ings, and he was ap- pointed as his suc- cessor. On January 3. 1870, work was begun in the preparation of the site of the founda- tion of the Brooklyn tower. It is well known that the towers rest on caissous sunk into the required positions. They were constructed at Greenpoint, and launched like ships. Each caisson was 102 by 172 feet, being in effect simply huge wooden boxes turned bottom up, the roof being over twenty feet thick, composed of solid timbers bolted to- gether. In the space whence the air repelled the water the workmen stood and removed sand. mud, rocks, what- ever was in the way of a solid and even rest- ingplaceforthe towers, after which the hollow space was filled with concrete, and the boxes left under water to sus- tain the enormous su- perincumbent weight of masonry. The
launching and placing of the Brooklyn caisson was made the occasion of some ceremonies on
RUSH FOR THE CARS ON BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
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March 19, 1870; in December there was a fire in it, but no one was hurt, and the injury done was soon repaired. The Brooklyn tower was finished in the summer of 1875, and the New York tower. a year later. Now commenced the most pictur- esque and thrilling of any of the work so far done -- this was the con- struction of the cables. The four great cables contain over five thonsand single steel wires each, and of these twenty thousand one wire had to be the first. On August 14, 1876, the first wire was strung across from tower to tower, rising two hundred and seventy feet into the air. With breathless interest did men watch the riggers riding across these almost invisible supports. Next the footbridge was laid, swinging at a dizzy elevation, across which people who were sure of their heads made venturesome trips. And, at length, after the va- rions details had been gradually developed and added with the ap- parently slow years, in the spring of 1883 the marvelous feat of engi- neering skill and mechanical daring hung over the conquered and turbulent stream, that could no longer divide the sister cities.
We can never grow tired of reading the figures that tell of its dimen- sions and its strength; one may not be able to remember them, but one likes to look at them again and again so as to renew the impres- sion of titanic proportions which they leave upon the mind. The ex- treme length of the passage over the bridge, from Sands Street in Brooklyn, to Park Row, New York, is more than a mile, say, a mile and a furlong. The curved approach on the Brooklyn side, that solid structure of masonry, arch after arch of stone and brick, has a length of nine hundred and seventy-one feet. On the New York side the straight line of the same kind of structure, looming in its massive strength high above neighboring buildings devoted to business, is more than fifteen hundred feet long, or, say, about two or three of the longest " avenue " blocks uptown. From the ends of these approaches the suspension-bridge proper begins. Down from the top of the towers the four cables come sweeping to the anchorages at their termini, sub- tending with the part of the bridge they carry here not water but land. the busiest streets of both cities. Thelength of each of these land spans is nine hundred and thirty feet. We now reach the real obstacle to be overcome, the thing which has made all this stupendons work and incalenlable expense necessary, that is, the East River. Between the towers the huge cables gracefully hang, descending and ascending with bold enrves, yet with easy disdain holding the enormous weight above the swift current below. As they curve downward the bridge- path itself curves upward, so that the center of the arch is about six- teen feet higher than its extremities at the towers. The bridge-floor at the towers is one hundred and nineteen feet above high water, at the center one hundred and thirty-five feet, so that only the tallest three- or four-masters need take down their top-hampers as they go un- der. And the length of this span, -- the crucial portion of the whole
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construction, the final conquest of the river,-is so nearly sixteen hun- dred feet that we might as well call it so. Now, what shall be our basis of confidence that this bridge will sustain all that we put upon it? We observe the cables, four in number, with satisfying sym- metry, holding in mid-air the various parts or passageways. We learn that their diameter is 152 inches, making a circumference of nearly four feet ; that they contain each 5,296 parallel steel wires, not twisted, but welded together by transverse wires binding them fast into one solid whole. We gather, with some apprehension, that the permanent weight these four cables are called upon to sustain, before a foot of man, a single horse or wagon, or railroad car, has entered upon the bridge to be upborne, is no less than 14,680 tons! But even this vast weight sinks into insignificance, and our fears are quite effectually dissipated, when we further ascertain that each of the four cables alone can ahnost sustain this whole structural weight. That is, each cable can carry 12,500 tons; thus, the four together can easily manage fifty thousand tons, and perhaps a little more, as they work together; and what are fifteen thousand tons to that? The cost of this wonderful structure, when it stood complete between the two cities, was estimated to have been fifteen millions of dollars up to that date: some five millions have been spent on it since. Some of these statistics have already been given in our brief account of the bridge from the New York side of the subject ( Vol. 1., pp. 470-473). There, too, was related the part of the opening celebration most in evidence in the metropolis, the passage of the President and Governor, and their reception by the escort from the Brooklyn side. It remains now to recount the expression of Brooklyn's joy and pride in the com- pletion of that marvel of engineering skill, which had been the dream of her citizens from the beginning of the century, and had been often set aside as too wild and extravagant a dream to be ever realized. The date fixed for the ceremonies and opening was May 24, 1883, and we need not here stop again to record the foolish objections made be- cause this happened to be Queen Victoria's birthday.
Such a piece of work as had here been accomplished was more than a local triumph. It belonged to the whole State, and the whole country; it was an event of National importance. There were evi- dences of widespread and profound interest throughout the Union, and the project was discussed with intelligent approval and enthusi- astie appreciation in every State. Hence, the two cities were crowded with representatives from almost every State, who had eagerly hur- ried to behold with their own eyes the wonderful thing they had read or heard so much about and to swell the throngs who should do honor to the opening ceremonies. Of course, in the two cities everything was en fete; it was a universal holiday from morning to night in Brooklyn, and in New York no business was done after the noon hour. The sun never dawned on a more perfect day. Clear, bright sunshine
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tempered by cool breezes prevailed all day, putting no discomfort upon any one, whether mere sightseers or burdened with the anxieties and duties belonging to the conduct of the ceremonies. At a very early hour the people began to fill the streets, taking up advantageous positions for seeing the march of troops and the passage of celebrities, but for a long time they had to be content with observing the display of flags and the decorations tastefully arranged with the National colors. When President Arthur and Governor Cleveland, attended by Mayor Edson and the other New York City officials, reached the New York tower, and were transferred from their New York escort to the Brooklyn contingent, the moment was announced by the thundering of cannon. Salutes were fired by the harbor forts, by the Navy Yard, and by guns planted on Fort Greene. There was a fleet of United States vessels anchored in the river just below the bridge, composed of the Tennessee, the Yantic, the Kearsarge (since wrecked ), the Vandalia, and the Minnesota, under command of Rear Admiral Cooper. These ships saluted with their guns, and, as the distinguished persons moved across the bridge, the blue jackets manned the yards.
The exercises were arranged to take place in the depot at the Brook- lyn terminus. A stand had been erected for the speakers, and seats arranged for a large audience. These had already been more than filled when the President and Governor arrived, when the vast assem- blage arose en masse and received them with cheers. Among the in- vited guests present were governors of various States and mayors of several cities. Upon the platform sat James S. T. Stranahan, who had been selected to preside on this august occasion, and on either hand, the President of the Bridge Commission, Mr. William C. Kings- ley, Mayor Edson of New York, Mayor Low of Brooklyn, all of whom were to speak, and the orators of the day, Abram S. Hewitt, of New York (later Mayor), and the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs, of Brooklyn. The members of the Board of Bridge Trustees were also upon the platform. But there were two men whose absence was painfully apparent. One was the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, President of the Bridge Commission from its beginning. He had died only a few months before, on December 1, 1882, and thus failed to see this crowning moment of his efforts. Mr. Kingsley, in his presentation speech, feelingly alluded to him. "For sixteen years together," he said, " the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy stood for this work wherever it challenged the enmity of an opponent or needed an advocate, a supporter, and a friend. He devised the legislation under which it was commenced. He staked in its inception a large portion of his private fortune on its success. He upheld its feasibility and utility before committees and legislatures and law courts, and in every form of public discussion. For years he looked forward to this day to fittingly close the activities of a long and, in many respects, an illustrious
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career. It was not permitted him to see it, but he saw very near the end, and he lived long enough to realize, what is now admitted, that he was to the end of his days engaged in a work from which the name of the city he loved so well will never be dissociated." The other absent one was also tenderly alluded to in the presentation speech. This was the Chief Engineer, Col. Washington A. Roebling. He had sacrificed his health by his devotion to duty. In the anxious and uncertain days of the sinking of the caissons, he had contracted, by too frequent and long continued presence within them to direct the workmen and guard against mishaps, what was called the caisson fever. It had proved fatal to many workmen; to Mr. Roebling it had brought nervons prostration. It prevented him from leaving home, having robbed him of the power to walk, but, fortunately, it had left his mind perfectly clear, so that all the work was directed from his house. He had rented one on the Heights overlooking the bridge, and thus only a distant view of the celebration was possible to him. " For many long and weary years," said Mr. Kingsley, "this man, who entered our service young and full of life and hope and daring. has been an invalid and confined to his house. He has never seen this structure as it now stands, save from a distance. Colonel Roebling may never walk across this bridge, as so many of his fellow-men have done to-day, but while this structure stands, he will make all who use it his debtor. His infirmities are still such that he who would be the center of interest on this occasion, and even in this greatly distinguished company, is conspicuous by his absence."
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